UK: Families of men killed at Barrick’s North Mara mine file lawsuit against gold market association for wrongly certifying gold as “responsibly sourced”; case to be heard in UK High Court
In December 2022, the families of two artisanal miners shot at by security forces at the North Mara mine (operated by Barrick Gold) in Tanzania in 2019, filed a lawsuit in the UK against the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). They claim that LBMA wrongfully certified gold from the North Mara mine as "responsibly sourced" despite numerous allegations of human rights abuses at the mine.
The LBMA said the “claim has no merit.”
Barrick Gold denies any allegations of human rights violations at the North Mara mine.
In January 2025, Leigh Day reported that the trial of London Bullion Market Association was to go ahead at the UK High Court, after LBMA abandonded its jurisdictional challenge to have the case heard in Tanzania.
In July 2026, 30 additional claims were brought by people who allege that they or their relatives were tortured, injured or killed at Tanzania’s North Mara gold mine between December 2022 and March 2024. Their cases have been stayed pending the outcome of the trial over the two earlier claims, scheduled for October 2026.